


You Either Die a Hero....

by orphan_account



Series: You Either Die a Hero... [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Episode: s04e06 A New Defender AU, Funeral, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Adoptive Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 06:30:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16341599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A Naxzela-what-if fic, in which Lotor never came.(My extra-bad summaries strike again, so here's an excerpt)"This was it. He was going to die. At least it was as a hero. Keith closed his eyes, and let out a whispered, “It was a pleasure flying with you guys,” and then everything was fiery pain, and then a blissful darkness."





	You Either Die a Hero....

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this was an idea that randomly came to me today and I decided that I had time to write it out. Not proof read, so sorry about any mistakes. Hope you enjoy!

 

There had to be some way to penetrate the shields surrounding Haggar’s ships, there  _ had  _ to be. Keith refused to think about what would happen if there wasn’t.

But Matt was right, their weapons weren’t doing anything. They would never pierce the shields. They needed something more than their little lasers. Something much bigger. Something, something like a ship… An idea formed in Keith’s mind. It was a terrible, stupid, reckless idea, but it was the only one he could come up with.

“Maybe not with our weapons,” was all he said before slamming on the controls to set the ship on track and ensure he had enough speed built up to burst through the shield.

“Wha- Wait! Keith, no!” Some part of Keith so desperately wanted to listen to Matt’s words, slam on the brakes right then and there, but then he remembered what was at stake here. If he didn’t do this then he would die anyways, along with any hope to take down the galran empire once and for all. So he pushed the ship to go faster, and within a moment, the shield was right in front of him.

This was it. He was going to die. At least it was as a hero. Keith closed his eyes, and let out a whispered, “It was a pleasure flying with you guys,” and then everything was fiery pain, and then a blissful darkness. 

 

***

 

“Good job, Keith,” Shiro’s voice came in over the coms but Matt barely heard it. He was instead staring at the spot where Keith’s ship had taken down the shield in an explosion that no one could have possibly survived. Matt couldn’t help looking though, to see if Keith somehow did survive, see if he was somewhere in the debrie. But considering that the largest piece of rubble Matt could see was only slightly bigger than his foot, he wasn’t hopeful.

“Take us closer,” Matt heard his voice command.

“Keith? Matt? Do you copy?” Shiro’s voice sounded worried, but Matt couldn’t bring himself to speak. Not until he knew for sure. 

The rebel ship carefully navigated the debris, not because any of the debris were large enough to harm the ship, but because they were searching for something. Someone.

“Matt, I don’t think-” Matt cut off Olia before she could continue.

“I know. I know. But I need to know for sure,” something in Matt’s tone must have told her that he wasn’t going to budge, and she fell silent.

“Know what? Matt? What’s going on?” Once again Matt ignored Shiro, instead searching the rubble. He could have swore he saw something that look far too much like a human foot in a black boot that made him feel nauseous. He quickly looked away and his eye caught on something that made his heart sink. 

“Stop, let me out here.” Matt demanded, then quickly left to go put on his space suit, leaving no room for argument.

Within a few minutes he returned, clutching a familiar blade to his chest. He stared at it for a while, trying to deny all the evidence that was presented here. Trying to deny that Keith was, was--

His thoughts were interrupted by Shiro’s voice again, sounding even more desperate than it had been before.

“Matt, please tell me what’s going on. Tell me why my brother won’t answer.”

Matt felt something crack in that moment. Suddenly tears were prickling in his eyes, and his voice was hoarse as he spoke. “He’s gone, Takashi. Keith’s gone.”

Matt heard a sharp intake of breath, and then Shiro’s tone turned begging. “Matt, please don’t tell me… He’s not… Please tell me he’s not…”

The tears started falling from Matt’s eyes. All he could say was, “I’m sorry.”

And then he broke down, sobbing loud enough that he almost could drown out the paladin’s cries of denial or sadness, and Shiro’s cries for his little brother to please respond.

 

***

 

The funeral was a small one. Keith would have approved. He had never been a big fan of crowds. 

The only people who were there were the Paladins, Coran, Matt, and some of the Blades who Keith had gotten particularly close to. Shiro didn’t recognize most of them, though he did see Kolivan.

The funeral itself was held on the Castle-Ship, drifting in an uninhabited galaxy. Shiro had taken a brief glance out the window, only to see so many stars of varying colors that looked so beautiful that he knew that Keith would just love to spend hours studying each star and Shiro had nearly called out for Keith before remembering. After that, he had avoided looking out of the windows.

It was not a normal funeral by any means, but it was as normal as they could make it on a Castle drifting through space light years away from Earth. Which meant speeches.

Shiro had been given a few days to prepare his speech for Keith, as had all the other paladins, but he had no idea where to begin. So he put it off until the night before, which he did feel terrible about, but he had needed time.

Shiro made it through most of his speech without crying, but then he suddenly couldn’t control it as he drew near to the end.

“... Keith was the little brother I always wanted. I could never-” Shiro’s breath choked, but he pushed through, “-never have asked for a better one. I-” Shiro suddenly felt a lump grow in his throat and tears sting his eyes. He blinked rapidly and cleared his throat. “I- I’m going to miss him.” Shiro could feel the tears welling up, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold back his tears if he continued, and so he just sat back down by the other paladins and Matt, the latter throwing his arm around Shiro in comfort.

Pidge spoke next, then Hunk, then Lance, the Allura. Matt had said that he was willing to speak if they wanted him to, but it had been years since he had seen Keith, so he ended up declining. Coran and Kolivan had also both been given the option to speak, but they had both politely declined, wishing to just see how humans celebrated their dead. Lance had helped Allura understand what she was supposed to do, and she wanted to share her own words for Keith.

Each speech brought Shiro closer and closer to tears. Especially when he began to hear the common theme throughout all of them.

No one had quite known what to do with Keith in the beginning, but each had come around to see Keith as family. Just as Shiro had. Just as Keith had always dreamed of. 

Shiro knew well that Keith wanted nothing more than a proper family, and it felt cruel that the universe kept on stealing Keith away from each of his families. First it was his mother abandoning him, then his father’s death, then Shiro was captured by the Galran, and now this. This would be the first time that it was Keith leaving though.

After the speeches (and after the paladins plus Coran plus Matt had had a cry session) there were refreshments, courtesy of Hunk of course. Shiro wasn’t very hungry, but he nibbled on something vaguely cookie-like, leaning against a wall and staring into the distance, lost in thoughts. This was probably why Kolivan’s voice startled Shiro enough to cause him to jump.

“You are Keith’s brother, correct?” When Shiro jumped, Kolivan added, “My apologies for startling you.”

Shiro quickly shook of the surprise. “No, no, you’re fine. Uh, yeah, I’m Keith’s brother.” Shiro appreciated Kolivan’s use of present-tense when talking about Keith.

“Then you should have this,” Kolivan said, pressing Keith’s blade into Shiro’s hand, the normally glowing mark at the top dull and lifeless now. They had given the blade to Kolivan earlier, unsure of the traditions of the Blade’s for their dead and if they required the blade back.

“It is custom that when a Blade member is killed, their knife is given to their closest family member,” Kolivan explained as Shiro stared at the knife, the only thing left of his little brother.

Something came to Shiro suddenly, and he lifted his head to look at Kolivan. “Wait, by family, does it mean blood-related, because me and Keith aren’t that sort of brothers.”

Kolivan looked confused. “What does blood have to do with anything? Families are those who are closest to us and stick with us through hard times. From everything Keith has said about you, you certainly fit that description.”

Shiro didn’t know what to say. So he settled for wrapping his hand around the blade’s handle and nodding at Kolivan. “Thank you.”

That night Shiro slept with the blade under his pillow, reminding himself of Keith who had always done the same thing.

It was probably because of this that he missed when the symbol suddenly began glowing again.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! There is going to be another work in this series, but I don't know when I will have it up (it will be called '....Or See Yourself Become The Villain'), so keep an eye out if you enjoyed this part.  
> Fun Fact: This is the first time in years I've almost made myself cry over a story I've written.  
> Anywho, till next time!
> 
>  
> 
> -MasterOfMyDestiny


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